First Time Bacon on the Camp Chef

[Rich Dahl]

Well I got brave and smoked some bacon on the Camp Chef for the first time. As I stated before we get some nasty winds and on Saturday it was steady swirling winds at 20 mph with gusts up to 35mph.

So let’s see what CC can do. Had a whole pork belly and a small Canadian bacon, used apple pellets for the smoke.

Fired it up at 165 and it settled in at 160-170.
3 1/3 hours for the bacon and a little over 5 hours for the Canadian bacon.
The Canadian bacon stalled at 150 for about an hour so I bumped it up to 175 and 20 minutes later it was starting to climb so I put it back to 165.

The grill was absolutely spot on perfect. I went out only twice once to check the pellets and the other to bump up the temp for the stall.
The wind had no effect on the cook, as much as I like my 18.5 WSM I wouldn’t think of trying to smoke in the winds we had I would have been chasing temps all day.
Can you see the big smile on my face?

Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of it sliced but Barb had to go to work so we were hustling to get it sliced and in vacuum bags. We did have a few slices for breakfast and it was excellent and to our tastes just the right amount of smoky flavor.

 

[LMichaels]

Damn that looks nice. I am curious why you would take something as lean as Canadian Bacon up so high as it's basically pork loin?

 

[Rich Dahl]

Damn that looks nice. I am curious why you would take something as lean as Canadian Bacon up so high as it's basically pork loin?

It's a new recipe, as I usually do 140-145, that's why I did a small one. Wasn't to impressed although it wasn't dry just way to salty for my tastes.
So back to my standby.

 

[Dan C. FL]

Mmmm!!! I just got my curing salt today. Apple wood comes in tomorrow. I can’t wait to make bacon again!!!! BTW- I’m curious about something. How bad do the winds have to be before you’re chasing temps? There’s always a breeze here in WI. I’m kinda worried that it’ll be worse than the stagnant, humid, hot FL air.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Mmmm!!! I just got my curing salt today. Apple wood comes in tomorrow. I can’t wait to make bacon again!!!! BTW- I’m curious about something. How bad do the winds have to be before you’re chasing temps? There’s always a breeze here in WI. I’m kinda worried that it’ll be worse than the stagnant, humid, hot FL air.

I start having problems when the winds get above 15 mph one of the things is being over a mile up and in the mountains we get a lot of swirling winds and a lot of wind gusts. Makes it very hard to get the vents adjusted. I get 40-50 degree swings sometimes more. I've tried wind breaks but with the changing wind patterns you almost have to completely surround the WSM.

 

[Lew Newby]

Rich, those pellet grills just make things easier on us old folks. Talking about me not you. I'm starting to feel disloyal to my WSM.

 

[russ olin]

Nice color on the pork belly Rich. Looks like the pellet pooper did you up right.
Nuttin' wrong with that.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Rich, those pellet grills just make things easier on us old folks. Talking about me not you. I'm starting to feel disloyal to my WSM.

Well I'm not exactly a kid anymore at 72, it's nice to be able to do a set and forget cook once in awhile. But I still enjoy using the performer for charcoal cooks. I think the 18.5 WSM will be leaving the heard now along with two other gassers. Time to downsize and get some real-estate in the back yard back and reduce the maintenance of 8 grills. I'll keep the 14.5 mini smoker I built years ago, it's a fun and much more stable smoker than the 18.5 for small smokes.

 

[Rich G]

Both types of bacon look great, Rich! Sorry the CB wasn't to your liking. I'm hoping I can find some more loin or belly when I'm ready to cook another batch!

R

 

[Bruno]

Man that looks amazing!!

 

[Pat G]

Great looking bacon Rich!

 

[Rich Dahl]

Both types of bacon look great, Rich! Sorry the CB wasn't to your liking. I'm hoping I can find some more loin or belly when I'm ready to cook another batch!

R

Rich, just a few days ago I got another belly to put in the freezer at Costco.

 

[Dan C. FL]

I start having problems when the winds get above 15 mph one of the things is being over a mile up and in the mountains we get a lot of swirling winds and a lot of wind gusts. Makes it very hard to get the vents adjusted. I get 40-50 degree swings sometimes more. I've tried wind breaks but with the changing wind patterns you almost have to completely surround the WSM.

Thanks Rich! There’s always a wind here, but usually not 15 or more mph. It’s not nearly as stagnant as FL was.

 

[LMichaels]

Rich did you cure that belly first or just smoke it? I have been toying with the idea of just trying to smoke roast one for a meal

 

[Rich Dahl]

Rich did you cure that belly first or just smoke it? I have been toying with the idea of just trying to smoke roast one for a meal

Larry, I use Bob Corrells curing method using Tender Quick. It's a 7 day curing process. I've never just smoked one although I seem to remember a few posts of folks who did what your talking about.